Batman/Superman #19 from writer Greg Pak serves to set up a huge upcoming battle, but also explains a great deal for those that have been following along with the series. While I tend to stay away from Superman for the most part, I’ll give anything with Supergirl a chance.
Superman and Batman have learned the devastating truth behind the identity of the unseen terrorists they’ve been pursuing. But will they recover in time to stop them from killing more innocents?
Issue #19 opens with a brief retelling of the Superman mythos dating all the way back to Jor-El on Krypton up to the clash with Brainiac that leads to the destruction of Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. Sure, we’ve seen this done countless times and in countless ways, but Pak weaves in the importance of the bottle city of Kandor to great effect.
After the Fortress was laid to waste a mysterious stranger makes off with the slumbering city and turns it people against everything and everyone Superman loves. Superman and company have finally tracked down this nefarious ne’er-do-well and are setting out for a final confrontation and reveal.
It’s all pretty engaging and even does a good job of grabbing a new reader into this big story. The intro retells the important beats that you need to understand to get the basic gist of everything, but leaves new fans wanting to go back and play some catch-up. Even with all the anticipation surrounding this arcs impending conclusion, Pak adds a does of levity to break up the tension, even if the few jokes may be played out.
What I like most is how the story plays and bends what we have come to know about Kandor. Turning the events that lead Jor-El leaving the planet, the city being taken by Brainiac, Superman watching over them, and turning it all so that Superman and his farther are the bad guys is simply a hoot. It’s an angle that I didn’t expect, and while it may have been done someplace before, I can’t recall ever seeing this sort of angle taken.
Anytime a story can make it seem like our Boy Scout of a Superman is the villain is the kind of story that grabs my attention. Finding a threat for Superman is always a challenge, so when you can take a group of people that can equal him in power and give them a legitimate reason to want his demise you are really on to something. For a man as powerful as the man of steel, he sure has a pretty weak rogues gallery to pull from that he can’t just toss into space and be done with.
Not only that, but because of the situation that Superman and Supergirl are placed in when the team enter the bottle city (thanks to the comical Ray Palmer) they are reduced to the level of an average person in the city, power wise. It’s one of the few times where these almost god like heroes are at a disadvantage and that is fun to see, if only for a little bit. Thank god for having Batman around is all I’m saying.
The artwork supplements the story well, but there are times where I personally felt that the penciling was a bit too intense for my liking. It’s not bad by any stretch, but I just can’t help thinking that many of these characters look like sixty-year old men at times. There are also a ton of inkers on this book, so if you are a stickler for these sorts of things you may notice it.
There is a big ending that blows the lid off of everything for those that have been following along which is nice, but what I really liked is the logic used by our heroes to deal with the problems at hand. No cowboy heroics here, just a bunch of superheros using their brains for once and not succumbing to their emotions.
Batman/Superman #19 is a fun read and comes recommended for fans of these two characters.
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